Plutarch, De capienda ex inimicis utilitate, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 1

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[1] I observe, my dear Cornelius Pulcher,¹ that you have chosen the mildest form of official administration, in which you are as helpful as possible to the public interests while at the same time you show yourself to be very amiable in private to those who have audience with you. Now it may be possible to find a country, in which, as it is recorded of Crete,² there are no wild animals, but a government which has not had to bear with envy or jealous rivalry or contention—emotions most productive of enmity—has not hitherto existed. For our very friendships, if nothing else, involve us in enmities. This is what the wise Chilon ³ had in mind, when he asked the man who boasted that he had no enemy whether he had no friend either. Therefore it seems to me to be the duty of a statesman not only to have thoroughly investigated the subject of enemies in general, but also in his reading of Xenophon ⁴ to have given more than passing attention to the remark that it is a trait of the man of sense to derive profit even from his enemies. Some thoughts, therefore, on this subject, which I recently had occasion to express, I have put together in practically the same words, and now send them to you, with the omission, so far as possible, of matter contained in my Advice to Statesmen,⁵ since I observe that you often have that book close at hand.

De capienda ex inimicis utilitate. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1928.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

How To Profit By One's Enemies (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. II. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1928 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Πῶς ἄν τις ἀπ’ ἐχθρῶν ὠφελοῖτο Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol I. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1888.) — 1 focus

[1] 86b ὁρῶ μὲν ὅτι τὸν πραότατον, ὦ Κορνήλιε Ποῦλχερ,¹ πολιτείας ᾕρησαι τρόπον, ἐν ᾧ μάλιστα τοῖς κοινοῖς ὠφέλιμος; ὢν ἀλυπότατον ἰδίᾳ τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι 86c παρέχεις σεαυτόν. ἐπεὶ δὲ χώραν μὲν 5 ἄθηρον ὥσπερ ἱστοροῦσι τὴν Κρήτην εὑρεῖν ἔστι, πολιτεία δὲ μήτε φθόνον ἐνηνοχυῖα μήτε ζῆλον φιλονεικίαν, ἔχθρας γονιμώτατα πάθη, μέχρι νῦν οὐ γέγονεν ἀλλʼ εἰ μηδὲν ἄλλο, ταῖς ἔχθραις αἱ φιλίαι συμπλέκουσιν ἡμᾶς· ὃ καὶ Χίλων ὁ σοφὸς 10 νοήσας τὸν εἰπόντα μηδένα ἔχειν ἐχθρὸν ἠρώτησεν εἰ μηδὲ φίλον ἔχοι, δοκεῖ μοι τὰ τʼ ἄλλα περὶ ἐχθρῶν τῷ πολιτικῷ διεσκέφθαι προσήκειν καὶ τοῦ Ξενοφῶντος² ἀκηκοέναι μὴ παρέργως εἰπόντος ὅτι τοῦ νοῦν ἔχοντός ἐστι καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὠφελεῖσθαι 15 ἅπερ οὖν εἰς τοῦτο πρῴην εἰπεῖν μοι παρέστη, συναγαγὼν ὁμοῦ τι τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἀπέσταλκά σοι, φεισάμενος ὡς ἐνῆν μάλιστα τῶν 86d ἐν τοῖς Πολιτικοῖς Παραγγέλμασι γεγραμμένων, ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνο τὸ βιβλίον ὁρῶ σε πρόχειρον ἔχοντα πολλάκις.

Translations (1)

How a man may receive advantage and profit from his enemies. Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. I. Goodwin, William W., editor; Hartcliff, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 1 focus

[1] Not to mention, Cornelius Pulcher, your gentle as well as skilful administration of public affairs, for which goodness and humanity you have gotten an interest in mankind, we clearly perceive that in your private conversation you have made a quiet and peaceable way of living your choice and continual practice. By this means you are justly esteemed a useful member of the commonwealth in general, and also a friendly affable companion to those who familiarly converse with you, as being a person free from all sour, rough, and peevish humors. For, as it is said of Crete, we may by great chance discover one single region of the world that never afforded any dens or coverts for wild beasts. But through the long succession of ages, even to this time, there scarce ever was a state or kingdom that hath not suffered under envy, hatred, emulation, the love of strife, fierce and unruly passions, of all others the most productive of enmity and ill-will among men. Nay, if nothing else will bring it to pass, familiarity will at last breed contempt, and the very friendship of men doth frequently draw them into quarrels, that prove sharp and sometimes implacable. Which that wise man Chilo did well understand, who, when he heard another assert that he had no enemy, asked him very pertinently whether he had no friend. In my judgment therefore it is absolutely necessary that a man, especially if he sit at the helm and be engaged to steer the government, should watchfully observe every posture and motion of his enemy, and subscribe to Xenophon’s opinion in this case; who hath set it down as a maxim of the greatest wisdom, that a man should make the best advantage he can of him that is his adversary.

Wherefore, having lately determined to write somewhat on this argument, I have now gathered together all my scattered thoughts and meditations upon it, which I have sent to you, digested into as plain a method as I could; forbearing all along to mention those observations I have heretofore made and written in my Political Precepts, because I know you have that treatise at your hand, and often under your eye.

Notes on the current edition

How to Profit By One's Enemies

1. Presumably Cn. Cornelius Pulcher, who was procurator in Achaea towards the close of Plutarch’s life. He also held various other offices. Cf. Corpus Inscr. Graec. i. 1186.

2. This tradition in regard to Crete is found in several ancient writers. Cf. for example Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 83.

3. The same remark is quoted by Plutarch in Moralia 96 A. Cf. also Aulus Gellius, i. 3.

4. In Oeconomicus 1. 15.

5. This work has been preserved; it is to be found in the Moralia 798 A-825 F.

Plutarch De capienda ex inimicis utilitate 1

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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